Culver Cadet Section > Culver General Discussion

GEAR FAILURES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM

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Paul Rule:
Joe,

The mechanical advantage is not a problem but what you describe causes me concern.

I recomend strongly that you find and fix what ever is causing the lever to drag or not move freely.  A correctly rigged and un-dammaged gear lever SHOULD MOVE AS "SMOOTH AS SILK".  If it is hard to move this indicates either mis-rigged or damaged!!!

The one exception is that you should relieve the "UP" pressure on the ratchet (by pulling on the wheel) in order to move the lever fron RAISE to LOWER.  This is a two handed operation (therefore- trim it up and/or hold the stick with your knees).  Then keep your right hand sliding/gripping the wheel to slow the "fall" of the gear as it extends.

Sometimes (in the air) a little down pressure on the wheel is needed to hold the gears aginst the stop in order to slide the pins in freely.  This seems to vary with individual airplanes.  Gear fairings (or 500 x 5 wheels) may cause an air load that stops the gear before it reaches the down stop.

If it is difficult or drags moving into the lock position that is most critical and indicates that the down stop is not rigged correctly or that the two gear are not in 'sync' and do not arrive at the exact down position together. 

 Put it up on jacks and see if it is as hard to move on the ground as it is in the air.  If  all the above does not help and it is it is hard to move on the jacks ... fix it before flying again!  Far too many Culvers have been on ther bellys!  Review my rigging post.

JoeB:
Hi Paul,
Thanks for this feedback, I will take some time to do a close inspection as soon as possible. 
'Smooth as silk' will be the goal
-Joe

Brett Lovett:
Joe,

My "locked/raise/lower" lever (I usually just call it the gear selector), has a strong spring holding it down into the detents.  It does take a fair amount of effort to pull it up out of the detent (considerably more so than the typical detent on an electric gear selector), but then should move smoothly and easily between the detents as long as you are holding it all the way up against the spring pressure (and relieving the gear weight on the ratchet mechanism when appropriate as Paul discussed above).

Brett

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